Ponderosa freshman wrestler Cohlton Schultz works through practice with the rest of his team, Feb. 15, 2016. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Team Colorado placed fourth and Ponderosa star freshman Cohlton Schultz was named co-outstanding wrestler at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Scholastic Duals.

Held at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., the 17th field involved 18 teams of freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

Colorado finished behind Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

Schultz, a Colorado state champion in his first season, finished 7-0. Hunter Willits of Pueblo County, a three-time state champion as a junior, also had a 7-0 record.

Headed by coaches Todd Sandman (Mountain Range) and Eddie Soto (Pueblo County) as well as Charlie Pipher, an assistant at Western State, below is the local lineup, with weight, name, grade, finish, class, school and won-loss record in the tournament:

Former Pomona Panther Frank Wainwright, who went on to play in the NFL and was a Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens, died on April 5.

The native of Peoria, Ill., was 48 and no cause of death has been released.

As a 12th-grader, Wainwright’s family moved to Littleton and he played on the Panthers’ 1985 team with current Panthers head coach Jay Madden. He went on to Northern Colorado, where he was a tight end and long-snapper, and played with current Pomona offensive-line coach Jeff Donnel.

A 1991 draft choice in the now defunct eighth round by the New Orleans Saints, he also played with the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins before retiring following the 2000 season.

Wainwright also was a lesser-known plaintiff in the 2014 suit against the NFL concerning alleged illegal dispensation of painkillers that apparently didn’t take the players’ longterm health into account, according to pressboxonline.com.

And, according to Wikipedia, Wainwright participated in research and education to create knowledge and awareness in the medical field, specifically to try to make sure sports are safer for all athletes. The site reported that he donated his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation to be studied for short- and longterm impact of CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Jan. 7, 2014 file photo of a high school basketball game at Monarch. (Jeremy Papasso, Daily Camera)

For only the second time in school history, Monarch has hired a boys basketball coach.

According to athletic director Russ McKinstry, himself a longtime boys basketball coach, the Coyotes in Louisville have tabbed Josh Brenning to take over for Ken Niven, the school’s original coach who retired after the 2015-16 season.

Brenning’s experience has come from multiple stops and levels. Most recently, he was with the Nuggets as an offensive quality-control assistant and assistant video coordinator. He was an assistant coach at Johnson & Wales University in 2014-15 as well as head coach at Aurora’s newer Vista PEAK High, where he led the Bison to a league championship and 19-5 regular-season record.

In addition, Brenning headed Rangeview’s girls, including being named East Metro Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2013, when his Raiders won their first league title and were 21-2.

He also served as a boys assistant with Arapahoe, Lakewood and Smoky Hill.

Niven, who said he is exploring other options, won his 500th career game the past season, the benchmark for schoolboy coaches, and earlier had considerable success leading Alamosa, where he won four consecutive classification titles from 1989-92.

The national honor is reserved for the country’s top teams, and to be eligible for such recognition, a team needs to win a state championship (OVE went back-to-back, YOU KNOW) and be ranked in the MaxPreps national rankings (Coach Danny Fisher and the Blazers finished the season ranked No. 23 in the Xcellent 25).

Over the last several days, Andea Willis has set the girls pole-vault state record three times.

The most recent time, on Saturday in Mullen’s Runners Roost at Brother Bernard Kinneavy de La Salle Stadium, involved the senior at The Classical Academy in Colorado Springs clearing 13 feet, 8 inches.

Predictably, she was thrilled.

“It was pretty crazy, I was really happy to clear it,” Willis said. “It was one of those moments where you feel yourself going over the bar and it was one of the best feelings ever.”

Previously, she had attempted 13-8 multiple times. Once a vaulter clears a height, Willis said, the vaulter gets to choose the next one. She simply felt that “13-8 just seemed like a good next bar to go to.”

The former gymnast who was born in England also has plenty of season remaining to possibly go higher.

So what’s next for the Kansas signee who won the Class 3A event in 2014 and 4A in 2015?

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.